A/N: To Bruna, Azula arranged her own marriage. She took the big book o' nobility. Found herself a rich, childless, high noble and said "this is it". I can see her using marriage as a way to further her own social status ( Princess is a landless title, Iroh was a prince and he doesn't seem to have inherited anything, obviously all holdings of the previous firelord go to the heir), she tied the knot more for power, money and ambition than true love.

Resolution

Fire Lord Zuko was crying. This wasn't something people saw, this was something only his family and the people closest to him saw. And was he weeping, he was bend over near the bed, holding the wrinkled old hand and crying his eyes, his heart, out. The only other person in the room was his sister, she looked weary, tired and the aura of grievance radiated from her. She didn't cry, but even amongst those she let to her heart she rarely did.

And then there was the person on the bed. Still strongly build, as if immune to age, former Fire Lord Ozai lay there motionless. Even with the life gone from him, he still looked strong, timeless, invincible. There was something about the man, something unconquerable, something even death couldn't take away from him.

His children stood there for a long moment, his daughter near the door, lost in thought, his son holding his lifeless hand, crying. Then the woman, although had the man been alive he would have called her a girl, she was always so to him, put her hand on her brother's shoulder. He looked at her, tears still falling on his cheeks, nodded and got up.

Then they were out of the house, walking around the island, no destination, no plan, just walking. It was a warm, cloudless night, not the type of mood to depart with loved ones. Even if the one in question was Ozai.

Azula spoke first.

"I am glad that you two were able to reconcile, even if it was on his death bed."

Zuko was looking at his feet, as if afraid to look up.

" 'Zula, do you think me and dad could have done it...sooner?"

"No, no I don't."

He finally looked up. When did they grew old? His sisters had wrinkles and her hair was starting to gray out. When did that happen? Was he this old as well? His father was eighty four years old when he past away, definitely much sooner than his forefathers.

He shook his head.

"Do you believe in reincarnation?" He asked.

"The avatar does it every cycle, says we do to, so does everyone who dwells on the spiritual." She said, lifting her shoulders in a sign of indifference. "It's probably true."

Then he locked eyes with her, the same way he did with everyone before showing a supreme resolution.

"Then I want you to promise me something." He said, motioning with his hand for a pinky promise "Next life, we're brother and sister again."

She just laughed and made the promise.

When was the last time he saw her? Before the wedding? When was that, a year ago?

His niece was at her desk, working, as always. He had to admit, for all her bad qualities, her work ethics, and inner strength, were admirable. Iroh knew when to admit he was wrong, he was a man after all, fallible as they all were. The girl was not her father and her recent actions proved that, it would have been splendid if Ozai was taken away from her earlier, but spirits be, that didn't happen. Then again, she was still young, there was a lot of time for her to make up for her deeds. Truth be told, he didn't start regretting his actions until the loss of Lu Ten and he was fifty-nine years old at a time. It was poetic really, while he was always a better person than the girl in front of him, he had done a lot worse than she ever did.

He cleared his throat and started speaking in his calm manner.

"Well Azula, I must admit, I doubted you at first, but..."

"How much did the doll cost?"

That caught him off guard.

"The doll?"

"When I was eight years old, you gift me a doll, how much did you buy it for?"

Iroh tried to remember, but it was so long ago.

Azula didn't wait for him to recall it.

"While I was in the Earth Kingdom I saw it for three coppers." She sounded angry at him, understandable given recent events. "So, how much was it for you? One copper or two?"

"Azula..."

"You gave me a one copper doll, while you gave Zuko a priceless knife that will symbolize a victory." He could feel her cold, calculating gaze, so far things weren't going on as he wished. "I didn't even play with dolls, I never played with dolls."

Iroh was being backed into a corner, he knew it, worst of all he was lacking a reasonable response. What could he say? I didn't mean it like that? I didn't know you well enough? I didn't bother asking your mother what you'll like? There weren't many Earth Kingdom dolls in the Fire Nation? You're a girl? Not that she was giving him the chance to speak.

"Then let me ask you something, about the war? Why did you disassociate me as a family member? You never even once called me niece? Why?" He tried to think of an answer once again. What could he say? I didn't want to think of you that way? You were the enemy? You were a disbalanced and disturbed individual? "You know uncle, Zuko told me what you said back then. I quote 'She's crazy and she must go down'. So, if you knew how things were going to play out, why didn't you do anything? A piece of advise or an act of warning? No? Nothing? Just let the poor girl crumble, who cares?" Alright, this pretty much threw all his excuses out of the window, the girl was good at making others feel uncomfortable. "At least I refereed to you as family, you never did the same for me."

They stared at each other for a moment, Iroh's face betrayed his confusion and his attempts to think of something, Azula didn't look like she cared.

"You know what unc...General Iroh, leave, I will tolerate you as a gust of my brother and as an uncle to the Fire Lord, but you and me..." She gave a small, somewhat disturbing, laugh. "We're done, never speak to me again."

A/N:

Next time we are going back to the main plotline.

Also, I don't want to leave Azula/Iroh's releationship on such a note, however this is a complex issue. While Azula was less than a stellar niece, I never got the feeling that Iroh cared about her in any way at any point. He gave her a doll, something you buy from a vendor, a gift you give to a girl you don't know (unless you know the girl loves dolls), and through out the series he seems completely fine with Zuko taking out his niece, such development of events didn't bother him at least, while Zuko does seem to care for her and is conflicted about fighting his sister. Also, she called Iroh "uncle", he never acknowledged her as family.

While I feel like she does have to apologize to Zuko for the way she treated him, I see no such obligation she holds towards her uncle.

While I would like to resolve that issue in the future, I just can't see how it'll play out in the moment.